Video: Home Depot Fire Creates Heat Signature Large Enough to See from Space
© REUTERS / PHILIP HURST
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San Jose firefighters were able to contain a five-alarm fire that broke out at a Home Depot store on Saturday. The fire prompted shelter-in-place orders for residents of the area, as well as an evacuation of an animal hospital near the store. No injuries to either firefighters nor citizens were reported.
The fire at the San Jose Home Depot raged at a temperature so hot that it was even visible from space, officials have revealed.
😲Structure fire seen from space! GOES West Meso Sector 🛰 picking of a heat signature just south of San Jose #cawx #remotesensing pic.twitter.com/qUTaa4A1up
— NWS Bay Area 🌉 (@NWSBayArea) April 10, 2022
The fire plume also registered on local weather radar, but was confirmed to be “under control” at around 11:45 p.m. local time by the San Jose Fire Department (SJFD), close to seven hours after authorities first got to the scene. The SJFD reported that all Home Depot employees were accounted for and no injuries to either firefighters nor employees were reported.
Those who live in the surrounding area were ordered to shelter in place due to the intense drift smoke, but that order was lifted around 1 p.m. on Sunday. A local pet hospital was also evacuated.
ABC7 News reporter Dustin Dorsey tweeted that the smoke was visible about four miles away in Santa Clara County.
Huge fire at Home Depot in South San Jose. You can see the smoke from miles away. pic.twitter.com/j9Tcg7z6YD
— Dustin Dorsey (@DustinABC7) April 10, 2022
The SJFD also wrote on Twitter that fire investigators were on the scene and would “continue their investigation throughout the night.”
Twitter user Philip Hurst told CNN that he had just finished putting his shopping bags in his car when he heard an uproar and saw people running out of the store. He walked back to the entrance of the store and managed to capture a video of flames dropping down from the ceiling of the store. Hurst says SJFD arrived just minutes after he captured the video.
Quick video I took. Hopefully everyone got out. #homedepotfire #homedepot pic.twitter.com/DNswqQuB2J
— Philip Hurst (@pshurst) April 10, 2022
As for the future of the Home Depot location in San Jose, officials say it’s lost.
"The Home Depot is pretty much a total loss, the roof is pretty much collapsed from the entire structure, so it's going to take some time to get in there if we even can- if it's going to be safe for our people to get in there," said SJFD battalion chief Brad Cloutier.
An investigation into the cause of the incident by the SJFD is currently ongoing.
